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Category: Organisms
Posted on: October 26, 2009 8:13 AM, by PZ Myers
Reader Lindsay sent along this pair of photos of a moose taking a stroll along a dirt road near Elliot Lake, near Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan 's Upper Peninsula.
That's not a footpath, by the way. It's a single lane dirt road for cars, just to give some sense of how big this beast is.
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Comments
Posted by: Porco Dio
|
October 26, 2009 8:22 AM
wooooah that's a big focker!
Posted by: Michelle R | October 26, 2009 8:22 AM
And that's why you don't want one to have a close encounter with your car...
Darn that's a big thing.
Posted by: John | October 26, 2009 8:24 AM
That looks......too big. According to google the average car width is 6 feet, so I'm thinking that beast is approx. 8 foot tall at it's hump??!
Posted by: Carlie | October 26, 2009 8:26 AM
[obi-wan] That's no moose... [/obi-wan]
Posted by: Gindy51 | October 26, 2009 8:26 AM
The road he is on is about as wide as the one going to my house. He's easily as big as most of the delivery trucks that drop stuff off around here.
Posted by: speedwell | October 26, 2009 8:35 AM
Jesus. A herd of those, and you don't miss dinosaurs anymore, do you.
Posted by: Neil B | October 26, 2009 8:36 AM
Photo shop is one of my favorite software programs. I wonder why Lindsay didn't include a silly squirrel with that moose. :-)
Posted by: abz | October 26, 2009 8:38 AM
errm am I missing something or doesn't anyone see that this is clearly photoshopped. There's a light outline around some parts of the animal and the light on the beast is different from the light in the background.
Or is it some joke that I don't get?
Posted by: aratina cage
|
October 26, 2009 8:40 AM
For the disbelievers, google is your friend.
http://www.jerrysbaitandtackle.com/Trophies/Moose/WorldRecord.htm
Posted by: mikecbraun | October 26, 2009 8:45 AM
The "outline" around the moose is the early morning sunlight. I don't think it's photo-shopped. My friend and I saw a big one running off into the pines and found moose tracks the size of large dinner plates on roads up around my cabin in NW Ontario. They get biiiiiig. And Alaskan moose get even bigger.
Posted by: Strangest brew
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October 26, 2009 8:46 AM
If a car hit that moving mountain at speed...
beggars the question on who would actually end up as road kill?
Posted by: nigelTheBold
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October 26, 2009 8:48 AM
abz,
That's probably sunlight through the hair that you are seeing.
Those things are BIG. Near Wasilla, AK, a school bus ran into a moose. The moose walked away. The bus... didn't. (Yeah, I know, buses don't walk.) Granted, the moose died of internal injuries, but that's not the point.
Posted by: Hannah | October 26, 2009 8:52 AM
I WANT ONE
Posted by: bc23.5
|
October 26, 2009 8:52 AM
Wow! That thing is huge! If it looks like it's photoshopped, it might be time to get a monitor upgrade. Clearly the right hind leg in the top photo, is behind a plant. If the person "doctoring" this photo can do that, I doubt they would miss a couple of light spots on the body where it is clearly visible. Notice how the light rays are coming through the branches above and you have an explanation for the light patches.
Posted by: JHGRedekop | October 26, 2009 8:53 AM
Twelve comments already and no "a moose once bit my sister" reference? And this Python's 40th anniversary year? I don't know what the Internet's coming to these days.
Posted by: RickK | October 26, 2009 8:55 AM
If it's photoshop, it is very well done, with the leg falling behind (and visible through) the shrub, and the hoof obscured by the speed bump.
A full grown moose is big. Wasn't there some French scientist back in the 1600s that said people and animals from the Americas were weak and underdeveloped - and someone countered him by shipping him a moose?
Posted by: mikecbraun | October 26, 2009 8:56 AM
Another personal anecdote: my wife, mother, and I had a cow with a calf come out of the woods about 30 yards in front of us, and let me tell you, my primitive fight or flight mechanism was running overtime--my only option to spare the ladies would have been to try to distract her, which probably would have resulted in me getting trampled into the dirt. Thankfully, she decided to flee. I would estimate that she was about six and a half feet tall at the hump, and moose display sexual dimorphism.
Posted by: nigelTheBold
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October 26, 2009 8:59 AM
@Strangest brew,
Often, both. In Alaska, there are often 6 or a dozen fatalities a year due to moose -- that's far more deaths per year than bear attacks.
The worst one I ever saw was on a busy Anchorage highway early one autumn morning. I was on my way to work -- traffic was backed up quite a bit. When I finally got to the accident, the ambulance was just arriving. A fancy red convertible had hit a moose. The moose had rolled up onto the hood, through the ragtop, and was stuck upside-down in the front seat, legs kicking around in the air. There was no room left for the driver, whom I could not see.
Posted by: Q.E.D
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October 26, 2009 9:04 AM
Many years ago, a high school teacher told me he ran into a moose in his Subaru four by four while on a camping trip in Canada. He reported that the car was totalled, the Moose walked away and he had to return to civilization in his canoe.
Posted by: ice9 | October 26, 2009 9:05 AM
No photoshop. That's how big they are. And they're fast and aggressive, especially the males. Also tasty.
ice9
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | October 26, 2009 9:07 AM
I had a moose, not quite this size, chase me for nearly 2 miles on my Mtn Bike near Jackon Hole one summer.
That was not fun.
Posted by: Ms Constantine | October 26, 2009 9:11 AM
0_0 That's humongous! Pretty damn glad we don't have anything that big down in NZ.
Posted by: Skip | October 26, 2009 9:20 AM
And they didn't shoot it??? Damn hippie liberals! Look, tree huggers. When you see an animal that size, hell any size for that matter, you owe it to Mom, apple pie, and the second amendment to blast its damn head off... got it?
Posted by: R. Schauer
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October 26, 2009 9:21 AM
That's a record-size moose. I opened the image in Illustrator and it looks real. Amazing that it's not mounted on someone's wall. That beast must make a hell-of-a-lot-of-noise moving through the woods.
Posted by: wheatdogg.myopenid.com
|
October 26, 2009 9:23 AM
As requested:
(Partial copy - the rest is here.)
snip ----------------------------
A Møøse once bit my sister ...
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse
with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given
her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst
Nordfink".
We apologise for the fault in the
subtitles. Those responsible have been
sacked.
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...
We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those
responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked
have been sacked.
Møøse trained by TUTTE HERMSGERVORDENBROTBORDA
Special Møøse Effects OLAF PROT
Møøse Costumes SIGGI CHURCHILL
Møøse Choreographed by HORST PROT III
Miss Taylor's Møøses by HENGST DOUGLAS-HOME
Møøse trained to mix
concrete and sign com-
plicated insurance
forms by JURGEN WIGG
Møøses' noses wiped by BJORN IRKESTOM-SLATER WALKER
Large møøse on the left
half side of the screen
in the third scene from
the end, given a thorough
grounding in Latin,
French and "O" Level
Geography by BO BENN
Suggestive poses for the
Møøse suggested by VIC ROTTER
Antler-care by LIV THATCHER
------------------------------ snip
You betcha.
Posted by: neon-elf.myopenid.com
|
October 26, 2009 9:29 AM
I can't think of moose without recalling the old Woody Allen routine with the wonderful line "The moose mingled..."
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM
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October 26, 2009 9:31 AM
The moose were hunted out of the UP. About 25 years ago, it was decided to reintroduce both moose and wolves to the UP. The moose thrived, and soon became a real hazard on the roads. The wolves didn't fair as well. Four we transplanted and all were killed within months. However, a pack, probably from Wisconsin, gained and toe hold in the 1990's, and there are now viable packs, enough that the question of deprotection is being raise.
If anyone wants to see what a moose replicate can do to a car, the Mythbusters (IIRC) First Alaskan Adventure studied this (if not the first,the second).
Posted by: Brian | October 26, 2009 9:41 AM
Moose really are that big.
Posted by: --PatF
|
October 26, 2009 9:46 AM
Since we had Monty, we can also have Woody.
The Moose
I shot a moose, once. I was hunting up-state New York, and I shot a moose, and I strap him on to the fender of my car, and I'm driving home along the west side highway, but what I didn't realize was, that the bullet did not penetrate the moose. It just creased the scalp, knocking him unconscious. And I'm driving through the Holland tunnel - the moose woke up. So I'm driving with a live moose on my fender. The moose is signaling for a turn, y'know. There's a law in New York state against driving with a conscious moose on your fender, tuesday, thursday and saturday. And I'm very panicky, and then it hits me: some friends of mine is having a costume party. I'll go, I'll take the moose, I'll ditch him at the party. It wouldn't be my responsibillity.
So I drive up to the party and I knock on the door. The moose is next to me. My host comes to the door. I say "Hello. You know the Solomons". We enter. The moose mingles. Did very well. Scored. Two guys were trying to sell him insurance for an hour and a half. Twelve o'clock comes - they give out prices for the best costume of the night. First price goes to the Burcowiches, a maried couple dressed as a moose. The moose comes in second. The moose is furious. He and the Burcowiches lock antlers in the living room. They knock each other unconscious. Now, I figured, is my chance. I grab the moose, strap him onto my fender, and shoot back to the roads, but - I got the Burcowiches. So I'm driving along with two jewish people on my fender, and there's a law in New York State ... tuesdays, thursdays and especially saturday.
The following morning the Burcowiches wake up in the woods, in a moose suit. Mr. Burcowich is shot, stuffed and mounted - at the New York Athletic Club, and the joke is on them, because it's restricted.
Posted by: slpage | October 26, 2009 9:48 AM
Skip:
"And they didn't shoot it??? "
On a tangential note, a couple of winters ago, we had a deer rooting around in our yard. I called my son, who was about 6 at the time, to check it out. He ran to the window, his eyes grew huge and a big smile grew across his face. He turned to me and said, "Isn't she beautiful?"
He could very well have said "Let's shoot it," as I am sure many of his little freinds would have. But he's got his priorities straight.
I still tear up a bit when I think about it.
Posted by: LinzeeBinzee | October 26, 2009 9:50 AM
I didn't photoshop it, but why would I need to when moose really get that big? I didn't take the picture, it was passed to me in an email. If I were there I would probably have been running as fast as I could in the opposite direction!
Thanks for posting it PZ!
Posted by: Krystal | October 26, 2009 9:55 AM
I am a little skeptical on this one, at first I thought it was real but the more I look at it the more I think it's photoshopped. If you look at the light shining on the moose and you look at the ground beside it you cannot see any shadow at all from this moose. It could be real but I doubt it.
Posted by: A-man | October 26, 2009 9:57 AM
I have seen that email a number of times and each time the location was different...Alaska, BC, ONtario and NFLD. If you look at the moose its the same image of the moose in a different rotated view...can someone say photoshop...i will....PHOTOSHOP!!
Posted by: ChrisG
|
October 26, 2009 10:03 AM
Yes, moose really are that big. The one I hit (a glancing blow on the rump)shattered my windshield, broke my passenger door window, and warped the metal all down the passenger side of the Ford Taurus I was driving.
He ran off into the bush.
I, on the other hand, still had to drive 65 km, in the dark, in shirtsleeves (my passengers were sharing my jacket), with an open window (fortunately my windshield,though shattered, was still in place, and I could see through it), and the temperature was -25°C, and falling. Thank goodness it wasn't snowing.
Oh, and for the record, Elliot Lake is about 200 km east of the Sault, in Northeastern Ontario. Some of the most beautiful country you'll see anywhere!
Posted by: tony barrow | October 26, 2009 10:03 AM
Elliot Lake is in Ontario, Canada.And no cars drive on that "dirt road"- see tree branch laying across it- and you can make anything look big from the right camera angle. But have to admit, its a beautiful penage, (rack of horns)- dont often see them like that up here.
Tony Barrow, Canada.
Posted by: Evolving Squid | October 26, 2009 10:04 AM
I used to live in Prince George, BC. I've seen plenty of moose that size. Photoshopped or not, it's accurate.
Posted by: Eidolon | October 26, 2009 10:13 AM
I do photo restorations now and from the images available, that's not photoshop work. jpeg sucks, but in photo 1, the hind legs are clearly behind the small spruce.That really is how big these animals are.
Skip @ 30 - one of the recent pleasures on morning walks have been deer encounters - 3 big bucks lounging in a side yard and yesterday, a pair of does and younglings. I hope to be able to share this with my g-kids some time because I thought it was awesome.
Posted by: Boko999 | October 26, 2009 10:14 AM
I poured several tons of concrete down a uranium mine in Elliot Lake and I never seen no mutant mooseses
Posted by: Garry Bowles | October 26, 2009 10:15 AM
I believe that the single car road is the access road going from the Kindiogmi road to Kindiogmi Lake. I witnessed a moose that looked like that one a few winters ago while sleding there. I reached the crest of a hill and was no further than 50/60 feet from it. It went down the trail for a few hundred feet then turned off into the bush.
Posted by: Geds | October 26, 2009 10:18 AM
RickK@ 16: Wasn't there some French scientist back in the 1600s that said people and animals from the Americas were weak and underdeveloped - and someone countered him by shipping him a moose?
I forget who the French scientist was (and, now that I think about it, I'm not 100% sure he was French to begin with). But I can tell you who sent the moose to him: Thomas Jefferson.
Of course, Thomas Jefferson was also the guy who instructed Lewis and Clark to watch for wooly mammoths on their journeys west. So he had a few funky ideas about the fauna of the New World...
Posted by: Michelle R | October 26, 2009 10:19 AM
That's NOT a photoshop. There's nothing indicating that it is a photoshop to me.
And heck, did you ever see a moose? I have. They're really that big. And scary.
Posted by: Rob J | October 26, 2009 10:22 AM
It's getting real annoying how someone always screams "PHOTOSHOP!" for virtually every picture posted to the internet nowadays. What motivation would anyone have to photoshop a freakin moose on a dirt road?
Obviously these people have never seen a live moose. I pulled up next to one walking on the shoulder of the road in Grand Marais, and it towered over my SUV. I think some people get the impression that moose are like elk or deer, they're not! They are absolutely enormous creatures!
Posted by: Richard Smith | October 26, 2009 10:27 AM
re Thomas Jefferson and the moose:
Found here via Google.
Posted by: PZ Myers
|
October 26, 2009 10:29 AM
Heh, yeah, they get that big. We were camping in Montana once, hiking a few little trails, when Skatje went skipping on ahead, determined to be the leader -- she rounded a corner and went out of our sight for a moment, and then came running back, the fastest I've ever seen her move. She'd turned the corner and come face to face with an enormous moose.
We went forward to get a look at it, and unfortunately the moose was receding rapidly off into the distance. I guess Skatje was about as terrifying as a moose...but she was a lot more cautious on the rest of that hike.
Posted by: Jason | October 26, 2009 10:33 AM
For the doubters:
1) How could you possibly tell if the pic has been 'shopped or not? It's really too small and too low in quality to tell much at all.
2) As has been amply pointed out, moose, especially the bulls, can get absolutely huge. The antlers can get 5-6' across. That road is maybe 10' wide - 15' if you include the area where the undergrowth is cut back. He's probably at least 6' at the shoulder.
In short, nothing is really out of proportion here.
Posted by: Holytape | October 26, 2009 10:34 AM
Same moose pictures different location.
They are probably real pictures, just not from where they are said to be from. It's probably Alaskan.
Posted by: fishboy | October 26, 2009 10:38 AM
obvious shoop is obvious
Posted by: Holytape | October 26, 2009 10:39 AM
Cut and paste. this is the right link.
http://www.stevesugrim.com/blog/2009/01/big-moose.html
Posted by: Rob J | October 26, 2009 10:39 AM
Looks like the photos may have originated here:
Posted by: Steve_C | October 26, 2009 10:46 AM
I don't think they originated there Rob. Sounds like the Maine Lodge was trying to attract tourists to me.
Posted by: Boris Badanov | October 26, 2009 10:46 AM
Moose is clear; where is squirrel?
Posted by: aratina cage
|
October 26, 2009 10:49 AM
Look at his bell. It is swinging right in the bottom photo. You can also see his rump in the bottom photo but not the top photo. So unless the original photo was 3-D, I don't see how it could be a rotation.Here is a real moose photoshop candidate:
http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_mar2007/LoggingMoose.htm
Posted by: Levi in NY
|
October 26, 2009 10:51 AM
NOT a Photoshop...or have you guys never seen a moose? They are *big* animals. What do you expect, a moose the size of a dog?
Posted by: mikecbraun | October 26, 2009 10:55 AM
@24: Actually, large animals are surprisingly ninja-like when coming through the woods. Humans, on the other hand, are not. Pick a nice rise on a day when the wind is in your face and sit for a bit: a moose or black bear is bound to come out of the woods that you didn't even know was there.
@35: Why would a little twig in the road like that keep people from driving on it? That's nothing. Any truck, SUV, or wagon would not even register a log like that. Your sedan would be fine, too, if you take it slowly.
Posted by: Rob J | October 26, 2009 11:00 AM
Uh, this isn't a 3D model, you can't just rotate the view of a 2D photo, it is simply not possible. Maybe you should figure out what is actully possible with Photoshop before proclaiming photos to be fake.
You are probably correct, particularly since they don't even have both photos posted there.
Posted by: Preston Matechuck | October 26, 2009 11:00 AM
That pic of the moose is photo shop,cuz it has no shade on the roadway..Thats how u can tell its not a real pic of a moose.... :)
Posted by: Ray Moscow
|
October 26, 2009 11:01 AM
This reminds of me of a moose that walked in front of my car in Teton park one time. It was huge, towering above the van in front of my car.
Luckily for all of us, we were all crawling along and didn't hit it.
Posted by: Jimmy | October 26, 2009 11:03 AM
I grew up in Alaska and spent 47 years there before moving to the lower 48 and I have had many encounters with moose. Once, to make some extra money, I and my wife would deliver newspapers. Imagine coming around the corner of a house and seeing one of those babies calmly munching an ornamental tree not five feet away. That house never did get their paper that day.
As for the photo-shopping I don't think so. If you look at the first photo and the light patterns on the road you can indeed see those patterns shadowed by the moose in the second.
Another fun moose fact: The Alaska Railroad which is naturally kept clear of snow makes a fine footpath for moose who don't like deep snow much. Thus the trains kill over 200 moose a year who are just out for a stroll.
Posted by: Newfie
|
October 26, 2009 11:05 AM
Our moose do not usually get that big, but I know that they do elsewhere.
Got to get me moose, b`y!
Posted by: Mark Eagleton | October 26, 2009 11:06 AM
I was just telling my kids how big moose can get at dinner the other day. Perfect timing!
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 26, 2009 11:09 AM
insightful and eloquent
Posted by: Peter G.
|
October 26, 2009 11:10 AM
We Frostbacks tend to think of Elliott Lake as being near exactly nowhere. However Sudbury would be a better guide for poximity. At least it's in the same country.
Posted by: yvon gallant | October 26, 2009 11:10 AM
It's unbelievble how people can be so naive in being tricked to believe into someone's idea when they have no clue into the matter whatsoever. Yes, clueless can be the accomplice to making sense of whatever is at front. These pictures have been appearing over many different website for several years gone by mentioning many different locations as to where these pictures where taken. Why? Because people play pranks or want to be the centre of attention or take pride into the possibilty that someone would believe them, someone who has no idea as to the origine of the pictures or the matter at discussion. Yes, moose are a very big animal. And as an experienced hunter and a very knowledgeable individual as to the species of moose, and have scene plenty of moose in my lifetime, I have no other way but to tell you that these pictures have been superimposed by using some computerized software. By the way, I had my morning laugh. Thank you. Have a great day...!!!
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | October 26, 2009 11:23 AM
Sometimes I hate the English language (and I grew up in it, and can usually write coherent sentences).
Why is the plural of "Moose" "Moose" when the plural of "Goose" is "Geese"?. Shouldn't it be "Meese"?
Tooth = Teeth, but Booth =/= Beeth
And Mouse = Mice, but House =/= Hice and Spouse =/= Spice
Posted by: Rob J | October 26, 2009 11:26 AM
What i'm particularly annoyed by is the epidemic of "photoshopped!" cries we are experiencing virtually every time a photo is posted to the internet, as if you get some sort of award for calling out fake photos. I couldn't say absolutely that these are not fake photos, but the point is there is NO EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE!!! If they are photoshopped then they are the product of a damn skilled graphic artist, the kind who generally probably don't have much interest in creating internet pranks, of a moose no less, and a moose that isn't even an unnatural size at that. I'm a bit surprised to see it here, because this is usually the crap you find in youtube comments.
Do you know how many thousands of people proudly proclaimed "PHOTOSHOPPED!!11" when they saw this moose photo?
#64 - the plural of moose is moose. One moose or many moose.
Posted by: Rob J | October 26, 2009 11:29 AM
#64 - sorry I didn't read your whole comment, thought you asked what is the plural of moose, not why is the plural moose. This is the explanation I found:
Posted by: Chicken Scratch | October 26, 2009 11:29 AM
I'm from the area where the pic was taken -- and yea they do get big -- pretty impresssive up close, and pretty awesome to hear
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | October 26, 2009 11:30 AM
And as for the "photoshop" conspiracy theorists - Moose DO get that big. As far as the "no shade under the moose" crowd, if you look at the picture, you can see that it was taken either early in the morning, or late in the afternoon/evening, and the sunlight is coming low from the left side. Last time I checked, shadows from the side don't fall under an object.
Posted by: aratina cage
|
October 26, 2009 11:39 AM
Newfie, that was a great song (#59).
Posted by: ChrisZ | October 26, 2009 11:40 AM
The beautiful thing about being a mix of Germanic and Romance (mostly French)languages is that English is marvelously inconsistent with its rules. But honestly, "meese?" That's way to pathetic sounding a name for such gigantic animals.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | October 26, 2009 11:43 AM
Hah! LOL.
I'll teach you to miss dinosaurs. Have a look here and another here.
That's because it is in the shade.
Mastodons actually.
No. Extinction hadn't been discovered yet, and the fauna of the US West was simply not known to science, so it was entirely reasonable to suppose that such animals could still exist.
What next? Computerized computers?
Posted by: InfuriatedSciTeacher
|
October 26, 2009 11:48 AM
JHG> No, realli! Mind you, moose bites can be pretti nasti.
Better now?
Posted by: Corey | October 26, 2009 11:55 AM
I think he's looking for a muffin.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | October 26, 2009 11:57 AM
You see, the English word for "moose" (Alces alces) is… wait for it… elk. Compare German Elch for instance.
I don't understand why that latter word is applied to almost exactly the same (Cervus canadensis) as the good old Eurasian red deer (Cervus elaphus) in America. Are there that few red deer in England?
Posted by: mrgenius | October 26, 2009 12:00 PM
hey, that's where i grew up. . . lots of big moose there. . .
Posted by: Alex | October 26, 2009 12:01 PM
you must be drunk.
moose dont get that big.
maybe in america where bigger is better but not in the real wild.
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 12:09 PM
Photoshop is the worst thing that ever happened to the internet. You cannot put up a picture of anything even slightly remarkable any more without some cretin who has no background in design yelling "BUT THA SHADOWZ IS WRONG!" These assholes are so jaded they would think their own eyes are photoshopping shit from the real world. There's a fine line between being a skeptic and being a dickhead.
Also, Monty Python is not funny to the majority of people under 30. Only the really hardcore nerds still pretend that garbage is funny; and not the good kind of nerds either. I'm talking the kind that WoW players make fun of. That's just a public service announcement y'all.
Posted by: Hai~Ren
|
October 26, 2009 12:12 PM
Alex: Erm... what? Are you sure you're not the one who's drunk instead?
This reminds of all the self-proclaimed Photoshop experts who pounced on the photos of a golden eagle beating the shit out of a red fox in Finland, which I saw on the old Tetrapod Zoology:
When eagles go bad, one more time
Posted by: Desert Son
|
October 26, 2009 12:13 PM
Years ago I worked one summer at a farmhouse/small independent press in rural Maine. One morning I was up for a jog, and was headed down the farm road, when up ahead a large female moose and a calf emerged from the woods and ambled across the road. I stopped and watched from a distance - I was probably 100 meters or so away. The moose (meese? Ed Meese?) headed into a field opposite the woods, and then into another copse. It was early, a little after dawn, and the light was lovely. I had seen plenty of deer (in Maine and elsewhere), but I'd never seen live moose. It was really cool.
No kings,
Robert
Posted by: kopd
|
October 26, 2009 12:16 PM
Let's see. That road is probably about 7-8 feet wide, maybe less. That makes the moose about 7 feet tall at the shoulder. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources the average height of a male moose is about 7 feet. So apparently they do get that big in the real wild.
Posted by: Blackie | October 26, 2009 12:16 PM
First of all that is not Upper Peninsula Michigan, it is in Ontario 200 kms from Sault Ste. Marie and yes there are very large moose here. I was walking my dog on St. Joseph's Island one evening in the fall and suddenly out of the bush walked a very large bull moose, the dog started whining and carrying on, the moose just looked at us, walked across the highway and into the bush on the other side. First time up close and personal and I can tell you I was looking up, way up to see his head.
Posted by: Desert Son
|
October 26, 2009 12:17 PM
How sad for the majority of people under 30.
Do I still qualify as a hardcore nerd, and not the good kind, either, if I actually do find Monty Python funny instead of just pretending to find it funny?
No kings,
Robert, age 36
Posted by: AJ Milne
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October 26, 2009 12:27 PM
Encountered a moose in the highway (60) through Algonquin park back a decade or so ago. Myself and my brother, enroute to a funeral, in his tiny Tercel...
Slowed down, inched by it. I swear we were looking *up* at its belly, as we did... Y'know that bit in Return of the Jedi where Han sez: 'I dunno... fly casual.'? It was like that. Trying to drive as nonthreateningly as possible. You really do not want to annoy anything that big. Especially when you're pretty sure it outweighs you and your car combined...
Re moose collisions, my other odd story: went on an inpromptu road trip to the maritimes for no other reason that it seemed like a good idea, back in university. Guy who's driving is very urban--Hamilton resident, dentist's kid. Sees all the moose warning signs, isn't getting it. We rural types are trying to tell him: no, really, people die running into these things. He's not buying it...
First evening in New Brunswick, a few hours after these conversations, me and one other guy end up in an emergency room in Fredriction. (I put him there. I can be kinda twitchy--all I can say is: do not startle me on a dark city street.) Anyway, we're sitting at admissions, and there's this guy at the next desk, talking to cops, bawling his eyes out...
We ask the admissions nurse sotto voce what's going on... Turns out the driver of the car he was just in had just got killed. Ran into a moose...
Dentist's kid wasn't there yet. On the way back, he's still not buying it.
You can't make this stuff up. You can shop it, theoretically, but you really don't need to...
(/And speaking of... that reminds me...)
Posted by: SUPERTRON_77 | October 26, 2009 12:38 PM
LOOK at both Pic's and tell me the moose isn't good at holding that pose. All 4 legs are in the same positon in both Photo's .....and a dark patch on the right hind quarter.. It's a fake Moose made with real fur made by the ministry..DECOY..who in their right mind wouldn't shoot a big moose like that. Make sure u have your tag and look out poachers !!!!
Posted by: SUPERTRON_77 | October 26, 2009 12:40 PM
LOOK at both Pic's and tell me the moose isn't good at holding that pose. All 4 legs are in the same positon in both Photo's .....and a dark patch on the right hind quarter.. It's a fake Moose made with real fur made by the ministry..DECOY..who in their right mind wouldn't shoot a big moose like that. Make sure u have your tag and look out poachers !!!!
Posted by: WRMartin | October 26, 2009 12:43 PM
I don't see it.
Wait. You mean that house-sized thing with legs? That? Holy crap that's a moose and a half! ;}
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 26, 2009 12:43 PM
*raises hand*
Posted by: Kevin Lamour | October 26, 2009 12:46 PM
This picture has been circulating the internet for years. Just 'google' big moose and you will find this photo was taken in Maine, NFLD, Ontario, BC etc. Not sure why people continue to circulate emails they get without checking to see if they are real.
Posted by: Notagod | October 26, 2009 12:51 PM
From Animal Diversity Web Alces alces (moose)
Tall: 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) at the shoulder.
Long: 3.1 m (10.2 feet)
Posted by: Paul from NH | October 26, 2009 12:52 PM
I'm from Nashua, NH, a city of 87,000 people, and I woke up one morning a few years ago to see a moose about that size walking down the street in front of my house. I have no idea where he came from or where he went.
Posted by: bobh | October 26, 2009 12:57 PM
Interesting coincidence. This weekend I finally got a 16 mm movie converted to MP4. It was of my uncle killing a moose in the same area with long bow in 1948.
Posted by: catta
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October 26, 2009 12:59 PM
I wouldn't shoot that moose. Why should I?
Also, I'm under 30, Monty Python is funny. It's funny to the vast majority of people under 30 I know, and that's a lot. The only people who think it isn't funny tend to be... well... a bit slow. No offense, but literally the only people I ever met who disliked MP were a) offended by Life of Brian for religious reasons or b) the kind of people who laugh out loud at most bumper sticker humour and/or cannot go through a thread mentioning PETA without posting "PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals - LOL!!1". In other words, the humour-challenged.
Lastly, Jim Bob, y'know what really pisses me off? People who still feel the need to decree "nerd hierarchies". Usually, that crap stops after high school. If it doesn't, you're either not out of high school or you have issues.
Posted by: donna | October 26, 2009 1:04 PM
My D&D playing son pointed out it is possible that is a DIRE Moose...
Posted by: RJ Ackert | October 26, 2009 1:05 PM
Elliot Lake is in Northern Ontario, about half way between Sault Ste. Marie Ontario and Sudbury Ontario. I have property near there. I am an experienced photographer. The picture looks to have been taken from a low angle - that is from near the ground. From that angle, the moose up here really would look that big because they are big and they can be dangerous. I live in Sault Ste. Marie ON and just north of town, the Ministry of Transportation has erected a huge LED sign saying beware the moose! This is not for fun. Fatalities due to car moose collisions are a real possibility. As for meeting them in the bush, yes they can and will charge, especially in mating season. The only thing that I have seen a moose run from was a Boeing 737.
Posted by: daveau
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October 26, 2009 1:06 PM
I have an old friend in Anchorage, with whom I have been trading some backyard wildlife pix. I sent her a baby possum, she sent me a momma moose and calf right up against her back porch. I sent her goldfinches, she sent me 2 bald eagles in a pine tree. Oh, yeah, and she went on a whale hunt with some Inupiat. I saw a whale once at the Shedd Aquarium...
Posted by: donna | October 26, 2009 1:06 PM
A dire moose is over 20 feet long from nose
to tail. Its rack of antlers is 18 feet across.
Dire moose are hunted only by the brave, as
their sheer size and strength makes them nearly
unbeatable foes. A hunter that can mount a pair
of dire moose antlers is sure to receive the
praise and admiration of his fellows.
Combat
A dire moose charges with its antlers, but it
can rear onto its hind legs and batter opponents
with its hooves.
Skills: Dire moose receive a +2 racial bonus
to Hide and Move Silently checks, and a +4
racial bonus on Swim checks. *In forested
areas, the Hide bonus increases to +4
Posted by: bc23.5
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October 26, 2009 1:09 PM
@ 77, maybe this. is more funny than dumb 'ol Monty Python.
Posted by: Eidolon | October 26, 2009 1:10 PM
I have to note that the obsession with Photoshop frauds has two origins - actual, piss poor jobs you see in the net all the time and CSI. Honestly, to watch that show, you'd think photos have infinite data storage, just needs a bit of enlarging.
For all you wanabe Photoshop experts, if you want to do some good works, check out
http://www.operationphotorescue.org
They do good works by restoring images damaged by floods, etc. You will find the images challenging and you will learn much about the process as well.
We return you to your regular programming.
Posted by: Zimriel | October 26, 2009 1:11 PM
Who's the moosiest moose we know?
Marty Moose!
Who's the star of our favorite show?
Marty Moose!
M is for Merry, we're merry you see;
O is for Oh gosh, Oh golly, Oh gee;
S is for Super Swell family glee;
E is for Everything you want to be.
M - A - R - T - Y;
M - O - O - S - E.
What's that spell?
Marty Moose!
Marty Moose!
Marty Moose!
(Hyuk), that's me!
.. yeah I need a life
Posted by: Mark C | October 26, 2009 1:11 PM
Found some other shots of moose that may be usefully applicable to this discussion:
http://blog.norway.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/p133085-norway-moose.jpg
http://www.rvtravel.com/blog/alaska/uploaded_images/moose-794521.jpg
http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/5021212/GiantMoose-main_Full.jpg
http://reparent.blog.uvm.edu/images/funny-pictures-moose-cop.jpg
Posted by: bckcntry | October 26, 2009 1:18 PM
Holy shitters, that thing is big.
Once, while working at a very woodsy golf course, I heard a weird howl and looked up to see a (fair sized) blackbear given 'er out of the trees with it's tail between it's legs. It was being chased by a bull and a cow. For how lanky they look, moose are surprisingly fast (and gracefull) animals.
Posted by: Knockgoats | October 26, 2009 1:23 PM
For the disbelievers, google is your friend.
http://www.jerrysbaitandtackle.com/Trophies/Moose/WorldRecord.htm - aratina cage
Hey! There's a really magnificent beast! Quick, kill it!
Posted by: Carol | October 26, 2009 1:33 PM
Well... that's a big one alright BUT Elliot Lake is NOT in Michigans upper peninsula...It's in Ontario..just so you know...
Posted by: Ve
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October 26, 2009 1:33 PM
Photos look legit, but that might be an ATV trail - not nearly as wide as a car/truck-type trail. Dude's huge, though, regardless.
Posted by: buche | October 26, 2009 1:34 PM
@92 - Agree with the nerd hierarchy comment.
I'm under 30 and I think Monty Python is funny (my fave is the argument clinic). Also, I'm a girl*.
*Reference to a Family Guy episode where Meg states that she's a girl and doesn't like Python.
Posted by: Tezcatlipoca | October 26, 2009 1:44 PM
Re Blackie @81
So it's the upper, upper, penninsula. Didn't you hear we fought a minor skirmish and as a settlement we Michiganders lost the port of Toledo but gained all the upper, upper, penninsula... ;)
Seriously though someone in the U.S. probably only saw Sault Ste Marie and made the assumption that it was Michigan rather than Ontario.
I saw a moose in the parking lot of a condo we had rented in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. While this may not be where and when it says with the photo they do get huge. Easily over a ton.
Posted by: BdN
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October 26, 2009 1:44 PM
Speaking of photoshopped moose, I think this one is pretty good...
Posted by: BlueIndependent | October 26, 2009 1:47 PM
Oh dear. I had no idea they could get that big. I thought at msot they were a bit bigger than adult elk. Very impressive. The thing has presence even in a still image.
Posted by: BdN
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October 26, 2009 1:48 PM
Oups... bad link...
Posted by: uncle frogy | October 26, 2009 1:51 PM
from WIKI>>>>
On average, an adult moose stands 1.8–2.1 m (6–7 ft) high at the shoulder[6]. Males weigh 380–720 kg (850–1580 pounds) and females weigh 270–360 kg (600–800 pounds).[7] The largest of all is the Alaskan subspecies (A. a. gigas), which can stand over 2.1 m (7 ft) at the shoulder, has a span across the antlers of 1.8 m (6 ft) and averages 634.5 kg (1,396 lbs) in males and 478 kg (1,052 lbs) in females.[8] Typically, however, the antlers of a mature specimen are between 1.2 m (3.9 ft) and 1.5 m (4.9 ft). The largest confirmed size for this species was a bull shot at the Yukon River in September 1897 weighing 820 kg (1,800 lb) and was 233 cm (92 in) tall at the shoulder
photo fake or not but it does not seem like an exaggeration either way
Posted by: TwoYaks | October 26, 2009 1:51 PM
I'm late to the party, but I'm a large game biologist up here in Alaska. I can say, without an ounce of hesitation, they get that big (and bigger). Maybe it's photoshopped. I doubt it, because there's no need to. It's just as easy to find pictures of big moose.
You don't get a good feeling for how huge they are until you've either tranquilized or shot one. Especially the first time you've shot one, when you get up close, your next thought is `dear god, this thing is huge. What have I got myself into?`
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | October 26, 2009 1:53 PM
ditto. may the parrot live (ahem) forever.Posted by: Moosehunter | October 26, 2009 1:55 PM
This picture was most likely taking on an ATV trail, there is many atv trails in this area. This would make this picture more believable.
Posted by: aplaceinthestar
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October 26, 2009 2:08 PM
That is a terrifyingly large animal. I think I'd probably crash my car if I saw that plonking along next to me.
Also, an under-30 (girl) who genuinely loves Monty Python. That may be because I'm English and because the my parents' first date was to see Holy Grail. Young-ish fans are out there, there just aren't many who actually understand and appreciate the humour.
Posted by: northernkate | October 26, 2009 2:08 PM
LOL,amazing,I think this is a "statue" of a moose, just moved into different positions.
Posted by: bc23.5
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October 26, 2009 2:08 PM
@Aratina cage,
It's real! Someone harvest it, quick!
Posted by: Hampus | October 26, 2009 2:09 PM
One of the best known symbols of Sweden is the road warning sign with the silhouette of a moose on it. Hopefully, now those pesky Germans will understand why we don't find it funny when they come over and steal them as souvenirs! Don't care what speed you're going, if you hit that thing.. *shudder*
Posted by: DJ | October 26, 2009 2:48 PM
That is insanely big!
http://killa-jigg.mybrute.com
Posted by: Demha | October 26, 2009 2:49 PM
I saw a bull moose this big in Algonquin Park (eastern Ontario, Canada) once. It was sitting in the water (almost entirely submerged), but I guess we startled it when we approached. So imagine our faces when this thing moved out of the water and onto land, going from nearly invisible to something like 2 m tall.
Posted by: woodsong
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October 26, 2009 2:49 PM
Haven't read all of the comments yet...
Yes, moose are that big. I've seen several on vacations in Nova Scotia, and I've always described them as being "the size of a horse." I'm thinking of Clydesdale, or maybe Shire, not Thoroughbred, here...
Here's a good road sign for moose crossing--second picture #9.
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-bizarre-road-signs.php
I remember reading (I think it was posted in a rest area, don't remember which Maine highway) that in Maine, moose impacts account for 15% of all vehicle-animal accidents, and 80% of the vehicle-animal impact repair costs!
Posted by: Steven Mading
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October 26, 2009 2:50 PM
Sigh: The obvious rebuttals to the arguments being used here claiming this is done with an image editor:
1 - Complaint: "But on other sites they're claiming it's from other locations - the location keeps changing! It's an urban (or rural) legend and therefore the image is faked!" Obvious Rebuttal: Just because the claim of the location the photo was taken is incorrect doesn't imply the image itself is edited. Editing the image and telling the truth about where it is from are two entirely different issues. I could take a very real photograph of Lake Mendota where I live, and simply put a caption on it saying "This is in Saudi Arabia - amazing that there's a lake here!" and that still doesn't mean I photoshopped the image.
2 - Complaint: "But you can't see the moose's shadow on the ground!" Obvious Rebuttal: It's already standing in a shadow! The woods are already casting a shadow on the road, as you can plainly see. Putting an additional object into the umbra of another object doesn't make the shadow any darker than it already was.
3 - Complaint: "The second image is clearly just a rotated copy of the first!" Obvious Rebuttal: No, it's not clearly rotated since if it was then one picture would look like a flat cardboard cutout since it would be rotating a 2-D image.
4 - Complaint: "Moose don't get that big!" Obvious Rebuttal; Yes. They Do. Check your encyclopedia.
Now, none of that means the image can't have been photoshopped - just that the reasons being quoted here for making that conclusion are pretty weak.
Posted by: ~Pharyngulette~
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October 26, 2009 2:52 PM
Moose-hoax deniers, please! Why do you think a nickname for a huge man used to be "Moose"? Did enormous, muscled football players of the 1940s used to be given the nickname "Elk" or "Deer"? Uh-uh.
Moose aren't the size of horses or cattle. Moose are effing enormous, just like in this picture.
A year in a moose-hunters' camp in Alaska gave me ample opportunities to cut up carcases, so you may trust me on this. I have a photo of myself lifting a haunch of moose from the meat-house to the kitchen at the camp, and although I'm a largish woman, it was all I could do to lift that one leg.
Most of the time, you could not easily see over the shoulders of a moose standing next to you.
In summary: NOT Photoshopped. Not even that impressive, for a moose.
Posted by: Tomato Addict | October 26, 2009 2:54 PM
@#77-Jim Bob Cooter wrote: ...
"Also, Monty Python is not funny to the majority of people under 30. Only the really hardcore nerds still pretend that garbage is funny; and not the good kind of nerds either. ..."
I hereby declare Jim-Bob to be a heretic! I say we build a bridge out of him!!
@someone: "who in their right mind wouldn't shoot a big moose like that"
Don't shoot him. you'll only make him mad!
Posted by: Desert Son
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October 26, 2009 3:00 PM
"Dunno. Mongo only pawn in game of life . . . ."
[/That's HEDLEY!]
No kings,
Robert
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/webwide#86be1
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October 26, 2009 3:08 PM
we're arguing apples and oranges here....
we all agree moose get big - but those of us who think a little photoshop magic is going on here are disagreeing that the moose in the photo is 7 ft. at the shoulder. We see a dirt road, estimate a car size, compare that to the moose and come up with a moose that appears to be around 10 feet tall at the shoulder. That's what I see, and that is what makes me think photoshop. Sure, moose are big, but not THAT big.
Posted by: kopd
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October 26, 2009 3:29 PM
@125
So much depends on exactly how wide that road is. I shopped in a vehicle the size of my own (Ford Escape) for comparison, just guestimating that the road is a bit wider than the wheelbase of my car. That made the moose look about 8' tall. Not scientific at all, as the road could be wider or narrower. Perhaps how large the moose looks to you depends on the size of roads you're accustomed to, and the people who think it's shopped are expecting the road to be wider than the ones who think it's real.
Posted by: moosehunter | October 26, 2009 3:31 PM
Look!!! There is not even a shadow, and that moose is the size of a house. 7 feet wide horns, and the moose only has 7 to 9 points. come on, who are you trying to fool. I say that is a fake picture...
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 3:36 PM
@92, You've proven my point. As a biologist-type nerd myself, I find the three or four people I've ever met in real life who actually like Monty Python to be insufferable asshole-type nerds. They walk around claiming that if you don't like the things they like, then you "just don't get it." Sound familiar? It is possible to understand a joke without thinking that it's funny. There is a hierarchy, and it goes from "nerds I like" to "nerds I don't like." It's subjective, sure, but it's also for personal use only.
Maybe I just read too many out-of-context MP one-liners on the internet before I was exposed to actual Monty Python. Either way, I've never met a MP fan that I've liked.
And claiming I must like Dane Cook? Low blow, sir. Truly low. This is more my taste, if you must know.
And yes, I do have issues. Deep-seated and malicious ones.
Posted by: Science Avenger | October 26, 2009 3:38 PM
Jim Bob Cooter declares: "Monty Python is not funny to the majority of people under 30."
Would that be the same majority of people under 30 who think Dane Cook is funny? Nuff said.
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 3:39 PM
Link fail, was trying to go for this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qy9KvDtI5w
Posted by: Tom | October 26, 2009 3:43 PM
Check out this site... Now, that's a moose...
Posted by: Sven DIMilo | October 26, 2009 3:45 PM
According to ImageJ, the height of the animal (top of the hump) is the same as the width of the road. Judging from myh own loggin-road experience and the faint wheel tracks visible here, I'd estimate the road to be 6 ft. wide and the moose to be 6 ft. tall. No problem.
Posted by: bob | October 26, 2009 3:47 PM
http://wwwjerrysbaitandtackle.com/Trophies/Moose/WorldRecord.htm
Posted by: bob | October 26, 2009 3:51 PM
http://www.jerrysbaitandtackel.com/Trophies/Moose/WorldRecord.htm
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 3:51 PM
SA @129, you were beaten to that old hag of a punch by about 30 comments. Already addressed. All I'm saying is I'm 24 and have met less than a handful of people who like Monty Python. This is actually about equal to the number of people I know who still like Dane Cook. Clearly I am just not spending enough time LARPing OR doing keg stands.
Posted by: james | October 26, 2009 3:53 PM
i have seen the rack of amoose over five ft wide up in thunder bay and that rackwon third place for being one of the biggest weight of bulls can eayly go over 1000lbs
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | October 26, 2009 4:05 PM
that's not very funny at all.Posted by: Kyorosuke | October 26, 2009 4:17 PM
@135:
In what alternate universe are people who enjoy LARPing the same people who like binge drinking and Dane Cook? Seriously, you need to realize that "most people you know" does not translate to most of the people in the world, and it definitely doesn't translate to most Pharyngulites.
Next thing you'll be telling us that you don't like bacon.
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 4:27 PM
Jadehawk, if you don't think Zack Galifianakis is funny then there is not really any point in going on with this, because we clearly see the world in fundamentally different ways.
Kyorosuke, read that again with the emphasis on the "OR," which is why it is capitalized. Those are two separate unfair, hyperbolic generalizations, brought up in order to highlight my lack of empathy with either group of people. If my writing is confusing, I blame you and my high school English teachers; it's certainly not my fault.
And I'll have you know I know upwards of one dozen people, which clearly is a more than large enough sample size to represent the world as a whole.
Posted by: John | October 26, 2009 4:28 PM
I've been within 10 - 15 feet of moose on a couple of occasions in Algonquin park (in a canoe not a car) and I have just two comments on this.
1) Moose make one hell of a racket moving through the woods.
2) I'd believe this is an ATV track. I wouldn't believe this is a road that cars and full sized pickup trucks could drive down.
Posted by: Kyorosuke | October 26, 2009 4:31 PM
You're right, twelve people don't like Monty Python == No one under 30 likes Monty Python. That makes perfect sense.
NB: Even if it were true, who gives a shit? Despite what marketing execs think, they are not the only one whose opinion matters (I say that as a person who is under 30 and loves Python).
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | October 26, 2009 4:34 PM
Oh for crying out loud, the redesign. THE REDESIIIIIGN!!!1!
So familiar… <sigh>
Not quite. Check out the right knee.
(…No, not the heel. The knee.)
No further comment necessary.
I see that narrow road, estimate my own size (1.75 m), and the moose comes out as considerably less than 2.3 m at the shoulder. I think you're overestimating the size of the road. Look at the individual pebbles (in some places you can just see them).
How many more times do we need to mention the dead obvious fact that it's already in a shadow?!?
Wow.
So you really don't even like "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"?
Posted by: Tomato Addict | October 26, 2009 4:37 PM
On closer examination, the patches of sunlight on the road change between pictures, consistent with the light coming from the left.
In Yellowstone, like Alaska, there are more fatal encounters with moose than with bears. Hint to tourists: Do not approach the cute the moose calf to take pictures. Mama-moose is nearby, and ill-tempered ungulates have little tolerance for intruders.
@135: Yeah right, and drug addicts say that everyone they know uses drugs. The problem isn't with MP, clearly you have been hanging out with the wrong crowd - stodgy uptight folks with no sense of humor, and you need to get out more.
Posted by: John | October 26, 2009 4:38 PM
Oh. And I wanted to add this:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__XOe1juJ7uo/SrTfSATgcLI/AAAAAAAACo8/ngc26N_emjc/s1600-h/skyline+moose.jpg
Posted by: Jimmy | October 26, 2009 4:40 PM
Holy bat shit! Are you guys even looking at the picture? In the first picture notice most of the road is in shade but there are two largish patches of sunlight on the road, one on either side of the branch(?)lying across the road. In the second picture the moose has moved and those patches are now in shadow cast by the moose. Peel those eyeballs.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | October 26, 2009 4:43 PM
You need to work on your sarcasm.
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 4:44 PM
Kyorosuke, it may help you to keep this in mind when reading patently ridiculous things that other people have written on line: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_in_cheek
And no, David. I actually am not really bored to tears with it but it's not my personal bag of tea. I just get annoyed by constant references to it on the internet and like to stir up trouble. I've found that Monty Python fans can be...sensitive about it. See: Kyorosuke.
Posted by: Alpha | October 26, 2009 5:00 PM
Is this moose on a natural reserve? Because this animal is far too magnificent and mighty to be put on a trophy room by some would-be hunter. He might be even the "moose"ing link, lol.
Posted by: OgiSensei | October 26, 2009 5:29 PM
In 1978, I worked in the bush in Northern Ontario counting trees (tree mensuration, technically). We would hike though miles of bog and Labrador Tea guided only by topographic maps and a compass (oh, for a gps). Occasionally we would stumble into a clearing as wide as a single lane road with the tress in a canopy twice a person's height. Our bush pilot later told us they were called "Moose Highways" which made perfect sense. There is no need to knock down undergrowth day after day if you are a moose visiting the same lakes and grazing areas every day. I have seen moose this large and, yes, their impressive appearance would tongue-tie Carl Sagan and Loren Eisley on a good day.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | October 26, 2009 5:33 PM
<slow headshake>
I will never understand where the fun in
sadismtrolling lies.Posted by: woodsong
|
October 26, 2009 5:37 PM
Pharyngulette:
Have you ever seen a Shire horse?
From Wikipedia:
1 hand = 4 inches
OK: The moose is taller at the withers by up to a foot. However, this breed of horse is about half again heavier! I think the comparison is reasonable. Both critters are bloody huge!
And when I see a moose on the Cabot Trail at dusk, I willingly stop the car and wait for it to move on.
Posted by: aratina cage
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October 26, 2009 5:59 PM
Knockgoats #102
and bc23.5 #116That about sums it up for some people I know, but not me (although I do have a penchant for moose liver).
Posted by: JohnnieCanuck
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October 26, 2009 6:08 PM
Like Alaska, BC also has problems with moose and railways. Google 'BC rail moose kill'. The top hit estimates one moose killed per kilometre per winter. The snow is so deep that once the moose find the tracks, they are reluctant to push back into it, even when a train is approaching.
Sometimes the moose runs and yet won't leave the tracks, even with the train safely slowed and now herding it along. Other times, the animal takes offence and charges the train. No obvious solution presents itself for ending the slaughter.
The reason that hitting a moose with a car is so dangerous is that the bumper hits only the legs and the hood passes under the body. A multi-hundred kilogram body hitting a windscreen still going a hundred kph is not one of the collision tests that cars are designed for. I guess she ducked: http://www.snopes.com/photos/accident/moose.asp
---
And yes they are that big and that's a narrow road. I can make out the shadow of the right foreleg on the road in the second picture. From that I predict there will be sunlight on that leg.
And no, that's not an intended traffic calming speed bump. It may be a big tree by Easterners' standards (poke), but trees do fall in the woods.
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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October 26, 2009 6:14 PM
My objection to Monty Python is that I've seen their routines all too often. The jokes were funny the first few times and then got stale. John Cleese shouting "this is an ex-parrot" was hilarious the first time I heard it. After a bazillion repetitions the humor has worn down.
Posted by: Crux Australis | October 26, 2009 6:22 PM
Wow, I thought things that big were extinct!
Posted by: Lowell | October 26, 2009 6:32 PM
Earliest record of these photos on Snopes appears to be July 2009, in an e-mail claiming they were taken in Maine.
http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=48462
Doesn't necessarily mean they were originally faked, just that they've been around.
Posted by: ice9 | October 26, 2009 6:32 PM
Let's review:
--100% of people who have seen an adult moose say it's very big.
--Moose never step in or near patches of sunlight.
100% of people with computers have strong opinions vis a vis moose
--100% of people who like Dane Cook think moose are large.
--12% of people, really just two over and over again, assert that all moose photographs have been digitally altered because moose are large, just not that large, and that anything outside of their experience should be criticized as not genuine.
--The original photograph may not be in its promised context; the same picture is apparently claimed by every jurisdiction with conifers, in order to attract tourists who do not yet believe that moose are that big.
--A large mounted moose adorns the wall of a baitshop in East Leech, Michigan, but does not distract visitors much from the smell of rotten minnows and forgotten chew-cups that permeates it, and all baitshops frankly.
--If you should meet a large moose in the wild, and it seems aggressive, you are pretty much screwed. Perhaps your only defense is to attempt to persuade the moose that it has been photoshopped.
therefore
--A plurality, perhaps a majority of moose find Monty Python funny; that number rises when the occasion is a date that might lead to procreation.
--Dane Cook no longer does moose jokes because his audience is evidently too young to appreciate them.
--If you hit a moose with a car, the signs are pretty funny that told you to watch out, because the consequences of ignoring those signs are not funny.
--Less than a majority of people who have never seen a moose admit it; instead they weave complex logical arguments to explain their failure and are generally willing to side with the moose-big contingent, perhaps to hide their shame.
--Photoshopping moose does not change their size appearance within the photograph, because evidently moose are infinitely large when photographed.
--Moose are very quiet in the woods despite wearing millinery the size and shape of your average kitchen table, except when they are loud, perhaps because of their great racks.
--Some people favor leaving moose unmolested in the wild. That group breaks down into two different factions: those who think that moose are beautiful and so should remain alive despite their great size and despite being made of delicious venison products; and those who acknowledge that moose are made of delicious venison products and could be shot withal but for the fact that the packaging is difficult to unwrap and the portions are rather large. Also wolves.
I think I have it.
ice9
Posted by: Krissy | October 26, 2009 7:23 PM
Wow - Anybody seen " The Last Winter "??
Our friend in the photo there reminsd me of the fossil/ghost beastie...
Posted by: Michael Ciferri | October 26, 2009 7:40 PM
This moose is not from Elliot Lake.,,,,,,this pic was taken in the Yukon last year get ur facts right
Posted by: skylyre
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October 26, 2009 7:44 PM
Well I have to add my moose story too!
I grew up in MA and would frequently go to NH every year. I remember when I was about 8 years old driving with my sister and nana on Route 6 (not sure what town/city) NH. I had only seen a few moose before from a distance so I hadn't experienced their hugeness yet.
That suddenly changed when a moose jumped out of the woods and stopped just inches from the car! It was amazing. It towered 2-3 feet, a male with its big antlers, over the car for a few seconds.. then ran back in the woods. It was easily 7 feet tall.
As a kid all I could say was "Wooooah." I was hooked after that.
But yeah... anyone that still thinks that pic is photoshopped because you don't think moose are that big, please visit somewhere with moose, and hope you don't hit one on the way.
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM
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October 26, 2009 7:50 PM
No longer at work, video of Moose Mayhem. Poor cars...
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 7:53 PM
@150 "I will never understand where the fun in
sadismtrolling lies."Not trolling, I really do think Monty Python is boring! I can't help it if other people are sensitive about it, and if I take a certain amount of glee from that.
Kudos to ice9 for summarizing this entire ordeal of a thread with great accuracy.
Posted by: MrMarkAZ | October 26, 2009 8:00 PM
We're gonna need a bigger boat ...
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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October 26, 2009 8:01 PM
Billy Joe Jim Bob (or whatever the troll's name is) doesn't like Monty Python. Nobody seems to give a shit except for Billy Joe Jim Bob.
Posted by: Random Mutant | October 26, 2009 8:22 PM
Re: Ms Constantine @ 22:
There are moose in NZ, just not many and in very remote locations: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/423466/616973
I saw something more recently that shows a very blurry photo of a moose's behind, but don't have the link.
Of course, if they manage to find the moose, DoC will probably exterminate them, as they are introduced species in a World Heritage National Park.
Posted by: Tsu Dho Nimh | October 26, 2009 8:27 PM
http://forums.gunsandammomag.com/forum/clubhouse/another-really-good-photoshop-job
That forum has bigger images, and they say it's "taken in the Elliott Lake/Sault Ste. marie area."
I don't see traces of photoshop on the larger images, but I think it's a big moose on an ATV trail and not a HUMONGOUS moose on a 1-lane car track.
Posted by: mark | October 26, 2009 9:16 PM
People are so ignorant, I live in Sault ste marie Ont (that's in Canada) Northern Ontario to be exact, kk enough with the geography. Yes moose get that big, i hunt them every year faithfully and came across 1 near that size 3 hours north of my home town. That is not photo shoped, looks like the taker of the picture zoomed in while kneeling down (making the size of the moose appear bigger to the background). If there are any doubters out there i would be glad for use to come to northern Ontario near mid September, and do some moose grunts to see the true size of these majestic animals (be very carefull doing so :)) As for the noise they make cause of there size, they make no more or less nosie then u or i walking through the bush on a stroll. So plz all none believers do come and find out instead of sitting there crying "photoshop"
Posted by: kemist
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October 26, 2009 9:23 PM
The answer is ... both the animal and at least the driver and passenger sitting in front.
My dad, a mechanic and former tow truck operator, has had to mop up one such accident - and by all account, it was enough to mess with his appetite for a while.
Accidents happen quite often on forest roads here. Moose are most dangerous at dusk, as they start getting out of the forest to avoid mosquito bites. When it's dark, the only sign that you've zoomed past them is a pair of eyes briefly shining in the night - that's when you decide, if you don't feel particularly suicidal, to slow down a bit.
Posted by: mrcreosote
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October 26, 2009 9:34 PM
could be worse - it could be a Piranhamoose!
Posted by: Crash | October 26, 2009 9:42 PM
Well just a shot in the dark but has anyone ever thought to look at the vegetation in the picture....could be an immature plantation which would give the illusion of a giant moose. Now I am not saying that it isn't big, just might look bigger because of its surrounding.
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | October 26, 2009 10:15 PM
see, I'm just not old enough yet for that to have happened...:-p
Posted by: mrcreosote
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October 26, 2009 10:25 PM
@Crash #170
look at the track marks on the road - they are the same width as a car - and I would think more SUV than a mini
Posted by: steve | October 26, 2009 10:47 PM
Enormoose!!!
Posted by: Snoof | October 26, 2009 11:06 PM
Shorter Jim Bob Cooper:
Some people like things that I do not like! THIS CANNOT STAND!
Oh, no, I was trolling, guyz. Honest.
Posted by: Jim Bob Cooter | October 26, 2009 11:16 PM
Sorry you guys get upset if someone disagrees with you. Pretty open minded bunch here.
Maybe this will help? http://xkcd.com/386/
For the record, I also don't think this moose is funny.
Posted by: LinzeeBinzee
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October 27, 2009 12:42 AM
You're going to find this amusing...this online newspaper has done a story about this moose stuff:
http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=42441
Crazy! I just innocently pass on a photo to PZ and it stirs up all this controversy...lol thanks for all the entertainment!
I posted about this on my blog too if you're interested: http://struckbyenlightning.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/moose-mania/
I just think it's funny how people have such a hard time believing that it's a real photo. I've heard so many stories (mostly from my dad) about how big moose are and how they can walk away unharmed after being hit by a car that when I got the photo in an email I was surprised, but not skeptical. Oh well, it's more fun with the debate!
Posted by: Monado, FCD | October 27, 2009 1:09 AM
An adolescent stripling of a moose is the size of a horse. Yet they can be surprisingly hard to see when they're not crossing a road: that chocolate brown blends into the background.
I heard something splashing in a pond a few years ago, in Algonquin Park, but it took me a while to see a moose standing in the water and nibbling on the edge of an island of greenery with only its head out of the water. When we turned to watch it, it swam to the far bank, clambered out, and just melted into the forest. I later learned that facing a herd animal tells it to go away. It was ignoring us when we were sideways to it.
They come out on the roads at night to get away from the flies or to lick up salt in the winter. You do NOT want to hit one; they fall on the car.
Posted by: Monado, FCD | October 27, 2009 1:58 AM
Hey, I've been though South River--60 miles from the nearest Tim Horton's. That woman must have ducked FAST.
A few white moose are born and if you do an online search you can find some pictures of them.
Posted by: MikeM | October 27, 2009 2:02 AM
Has your cat ever done this?
Posted by: Numad
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October 27, 2009 4:29 AM
Jim Bob Cooter,
"Not trolling, I really do think Monty Python is boring! I can't help it if other people are sensitive about it, and if I take a certain amount of glee from that."
"Sorry you guys get upset if someone disagrees with you. Pretty open minded bunch here."
I know that's how you're now spinning now this in the interest of further trolling, but your original comment about Monty Python:
"Only the really hardcore nerds still pretend that garbage is funny; and not the good kind of nerds either. I'm talking the kind that WoW players make fun of."
People got riled up because you insulted them. Gee whiz, how odd is that!
Posted by: chrisD | October 27, 2009 5:29 AM
Posted by: Luna_the_cat | October 27, 2009 8:29 AM
I'll add to the already overburdened chorus of "moose really are that big!" I worked one summer on a farm in Maine, and right around the beginning of September a bull wandered into the middle of the farm right before dawn. The farm's owner was worried about it being the start of rutting season, and just kept everyone inside until it wandered off.
Me, I was just staring at it out the windows going "Holy SH** that thing's big! Dear GOD! LOOK at the SIZE of it!" until I got told to shut up. I can say, through comparison to the barn door it was sticking its nose through, that it stood at or near 7 feet tall at the shoulder, easily.
Are we done with all the "It's photoshopped!!11!1!" crap yet?
Posted by: wheatdogg.myopenid.com
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October 27, 2009 10:33 AM
Additional credits:
Large møøse in woods Photoshopped by NøøNE
Pointless Monty Python Non-Appreciation Commentary by JIM BOB CøøTER
Endless Møøse Appreciation Commentary by LOTS OF FOLKS LIVING IN SNOW COUNTRY
... Please pardon us again. The person responsible for the these latest credits has been sacked.
Posted by: astrounit | October 27, 2009 12:00 PM
Those are real photographs of a real bull moose. Absolutely positively.
If anybody can "obviously" see photoshopped fakery in these small version image files, they are as ignorant as they are incapable of understanding what they're looking at. I work extensively with images in my profession, and I know what's possible and what isn't. I agree entirely with those who have expressed irritation over cries of "PHOTOSHOPPED!" by people who wouldn't be able to tell a fake if they broke their necks tripping over it.
Yes, moose absolutely get that big. While camping in the valley cut into the Absaroka Range by the Shoshone river just outside the East Entrance of Yellowstone back in 1987, my then-4-year-old nephew happened to come upon a young female. Her shoulder was AT LEAST a foot taller than my 6-foot height. My nephew had briefly wandered off to find "sticks" for the campfire, as we suggested - and when I discovered him he was standing frozen - all 36 inches of him - staring WAY up at this enormous beast, with the moose nuzzling down sniffing at his cowboy hatted head...the jolt of adrenalin was one of the most shocking and unpleasant I've ever experienced.
I unloaded my firewood and paused while I kept up my conversational tone, saying something like " Whoa, what did you find there? A big moose? Wow, that's a big one. A really big one...a really really big and giant moose. Niiice moose. VERY NIIIIICE MOOSE" etc, while he remained frozen staring up at this enormous animal.
I slowly but as innocently and unthreatening as possible advanced toward them, while I kept up the banter in the most unaggressive cooing tones I could manage - I reasoned, just to maintain the smooth course of stimuli that moose had encountered, with me approaching out of the woods calling out to my nephew...so she undoubtedly knew I was nearby and approaching from the start of the encounter.
As I got closer I pretended to avert my attention to the surrounding woods, to the ground - anywhere BUT the moose, which very definitely held my full attention. I relied on my peripheral vision, refraining from looking that beast directly in the eye, but managed quick furtive eyeball glances her way, just to make sure everything was still cool with her...I could see that she was watching me VERY closely. Fortunately she remained calm, and stood there rooted to the spot. When I finally reached my nephew I said something like, "well we have to go now...goodbye moose, nice to meet you!" while taking his hand, still clutching some sticks he had found for the campfire, and slowly walked him away from that great animal.
The encounter probably didn't last for more than a minute or two, but it seemed like a half hour. I remember bursting with perspiration when we returned to camp and relating the encounter to my nephew's parents, who became quite alarmed. My brother and I returned to the spot to collect the firewood I had dropped and to see if she was still there, but she had gone...but not without leaving very noticeable prints about 10 inches wide where she stood over my nephew. My brother was amazed at their size and asked if it wasn't a much bigger animal than I described. Nope, it was "just a young female".
I've also had occasion to spot full-grown bull moose from MUCH more comfortable distances, equipped with binoculars, and they really are as large as implied by these photos. The one captured in these photos is by no means the biggest. I've seen a few that were easily larger, but I have serious doubts about reported shoulder heights much above 10 or 11 feet. (Reports of 15-foot heights are ridiculous). Big bull moose weighing over a ton make horses look like dogs.
But there's nothing quite like being near one. If an immature female can achieve ~7-foot height, an adult bull can easily get as big as that pictured. Judging by the scale suggested by a ~7-foot width of that road (edge to edge), that guy's hump is somewhat over 9 feet. The ratio at that spot between road width and shoulder height is very close to 2.25:3, which would place it's height at 9.3 feet, assuming a 7-foot width to the road at that spot.
That estimation is based on the typical wheel sep of conventional cars in concert with a conservative estimation of the wheel ruts that are explicitly visible in the photos. I happen to be very familiar with such dirt roads and am able to make an accurate analysis. It is more clearly discernable in the second photo, where his front legs more unambiguously place his distance. The first photo has him climbing out of an elevation lower than the road, so his size can't be as readily appreciated...and YES, that road near Elliot Lake IN MICHIGAN - IS navigable by "cars", albeit relatively infrequently, despite comments that doubt it because of a skinny little stick that crosses over it - heck, I have to clear my dirt driveway of branches up to ten inches in diameter and 20 feet long every time a fair thunderstorm passes through, and I drive on my driveway every day. (There can be other lakes named "Elliot" besides the one you know, tony barrow).
One final curtain-closer to the idiotic "IT's PHOTOSHOPPED!!!" charge: notice the perspective? Those photographs were taken by a standing person of average height, with the camera at typical eye-height around 5 feet above the surface of the road. Look at where the horizon-line would pass (never mind that the road dips down gradually in elevation with distance - that just increases the IMPRESSION of greater height for foreground objects): notice that such a person of typical height (say, around 5'10") could quite comfortably stand under its throat where its bell hangs. On that separate estimation, it confirms that guy is easily over 9 feet at the top of its hump.
Posted by: ScepticalAtBest | October 27, 2009 6:18 PM
Having lived in northern Michigan for my first 18 years and camping, fishing, hunting and travelling all around the UP every summer, there is no way that moose is from the UP. The Michigan DNR tried to reintroduce a population there in the 90's with the goal of 1000 moose by the year 2000:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12143_12185-30966--,00.html
and it never got that high. This study talks about survival rates of the animals:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5712785/Survival-reproduction-and-movements-of.html
prior to 2001. Take the whitetail deer issues of the last 10 years (sickness, overpopulation) and it had to ensure a detrimental effect on the moose population. So while there are moose in the UP, the likelihood of a specimen that size being there is extremely low. Sure, moose can grow to that size but not in the UP. Anything is possible I guess, but taken with the evidence from the DNR and the rest of my issues below, it is improbable.
Next issue, the email forward said it was taken near Elliot Lake. Elliot Lake is in Canada. Granted, there is a Sault Ste. Marie Canada as well, but whomever forwarded it on doesn't know the geography very well, or at least it got mixed up in the Telephone Game that is email forwards.
Lastly, while I'm not saying the photo was obviously doctored, look at the two circular shadows just above the fallen tree in the middle of the road. In the second photo, they are exactly the same as in the first and it standing on top of one of them. In a picture this small, it is tough to tell how bright the light source is, or even where it is coming from, but this bull can blot out the sun.
This is a better case for snopes than me, but I'd suggest that at best someone has their facts way wrong about someone else's pictures. At worst, it is another email that I get mad at my mom for sending.
Posted by: Chris Russ | October 27, 2009 7:27 PM
Yes that is a real moose. but that moose has been flying around the internet for a long time. i live up the alaska hyway and moose get to be insane in size and it is possible. did she note that that is not a road but a quad trail. I even have had 1000 pound grizzly in my yard that would give that moose a run for his money.
Posted by: Hunter | October 27, 2009 10:34 PM
Pretty sure that that is a Shiras moose (can anyone verify)? That's the smallest of the 4 species of moose, and they can only get up to about 1200 pounds normally. That's not to say that they aren't huge (was moose hunting only a few days ago, and saw one taken down first hand), but they are definitely not that huge; the paddles alone would make it impossible to navigate a forest.
Posted by: Hunter | October 27, 2009 10:36 PM
Pretty sure that that is a Shiras moose (can anyone verify)? That's the smallest of the 4 species of moose, and they can only get up to about 1200 pounds normally. That's not to say that they aren't huge (was moose hunting only a few days ago, and saw one taken down first hand), but they are definitely not that huge; the paddles alone would make it impossible to navigate a forest.
I might add that judging by it's paddles it only looks around 3-5 years old, or older and malnourished (can't really tell without the teeth though).
Posted by: jay | October 28, 2009 11:40 AM
first time I seen this picture they tried to say it was Newfoundland than it was supposed to be from North Of Peterborough on. I passed it on to the Soo area and said the picture was taken on the Old Goulais Bay road It sure is getting good coverage in the Soo Maybe the MNR should start giving out more tags BUT more than likely the Metis & Natives have this giant already
Posted by: chaunceyworld | October 29, 2009 9:09 AM
And. This thread is a great example of the evolution of a rumour. Don't know if the pic is authentic or not, but a lot of amateur photoshoppers say it's not, while those with access to scientific information say it's quite possible: Moose do get that big.
Posted by: tanu | November 2, 2009 5:37 PM
That is an insanely huge beast!What an obstacle to run into on the road.. And no room to manouver!
tanu
www.CampingRoadTrip.com
Posted by: Ed Dean | November 5, 2009 11:34 PM
Ah yes this is a Hoax ! Sorry folks. As an avid hunter in Canada and the USA I have never seen a Moose this large. They do get large coming in at 1000lbs plus but not that big. Sorry ! Nice pics though......
Posted by: jwhale | November 14, 2009 1:49 PM
My first guess was photoshop but I found higher res images on the web. It still maybe photoshop but I'm betting it's an optical trick. Perception is everything and most would be assuming the trees and road were a certain size. I've been on a lot of similar roads and they are often six feet or less. Also if the trees were logged recently, they look young, they might not be all that big in the first place. The second picture is deceptive and the first is more square on. Look at the shoulder height compared to the road and they are about the same. I'm guessing 6' or maybe a bit more for hump height. It's a decent size but well within a normal range. I think they just took some nice pictures of one then when they got them home they saw it looked giant and posted them. The second one does look photoshopped in higher res images but I'm still betting it's a trick of the light and it's just a normal sized moose in a smaller scale environment.
Posted by: Jsuis | November 23, 2009 7:37 AM
the hooves in the second picture don't look right... seems photoshopped...
Posted by: Karen | November 28, 2009 2:54 PM
Elliot Lake is near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario not Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan so this is not in the Upper Peninsual of Michigan